by Gary Urey
“Fine,” Daisha said, shaking his hand off her arm.
“How do you know we’re in India?” Loosha asked.
“Because—” Daisha started to say, but a large wooden sign made her voice stick in her throat.
The sign said Parque Nacional Galápagos, Isla de Isabela, Ecuador.
A tear rolled down Daisha’s cheek.
“Why are you crying?” Loosha asked. “What does that sign say?”
“It’s Spanish for ‘Galápagos National Park, Isabela Island, Ecuador.’ That means we’re not in India, and Axel’s not here.”
Daisha turned and continued down the path with Loosha close behind. She didn’t know what to do, but she knew she didn’t want to be in the middle of nowhere come nightfall.
They walked for several hours, eating wild red berries that tasted like a slightly sweeter version of cherry tomatoes. The whole time, pangs of fear clenched her stomach. Warp travel wasn’t supposed to work this way. She was the one who typed in the coordinates and flew away, not the other way around. Never once in her six months of using the GeoPort did numbers pop up by themselves. Besides, she and Axel had destroyed the permanent X-Point, and that should have ended Geographical Transportation altogether.
As the sun disappeared over the horizon, Daisha and Loosha made it to the ocean. Half the beach was dark volcanic sand. The other half was light beige. Across the bay, they saw the burning lights of a large village.
“At least we’re close to civilization,” Loosha said. “Tomorrow we’ll go there. I have lots of money.”
“Who’s going to take care of Boris?” Daisha wondered aloud. “When we Warped, he was still locked in that room.”
“The Doctor has many domestic employees. They’ll feed him.”
Loosha slipped off his canvas belt and used it to tie Daisha’s wrist to his.
“I’m going to sleep now,” he said, tying the knot tight. “Try anything funny and I’ll know.” He reclined in the sand, yawned, and closed his eyes.
Daisha tried to stay awake, but it was a losing battle. Her eyelids fluttered and her head bobbed. As she was about to drift off, confusing thoughts popped into her half-awake, half-dreaming mind.
How did Loosha go through the Warp with me when only my DNA makes the GeoPort work? He grabbed me right before I pressed the Satellite Warp button. Maybe if another living form is touching me they also teleport. I guess this is another quirk my mom and Axel’s dad didn’t know about Warp travel. I wonder what other things about the GeoPort I don’t know.
Daisha and Loosha awoke the next morning to the sound of a loud siren coming from the village. They sat up, rubbed their eyes, and saw three Ecuadorian men frantically pulling log canoes out of the water. Three boys of around ten years old ran up the beach carrying fishing poles.
“Hey, you!” Loosha shouted at them. “What’s going on?”
“Tsunami warning!” one of the boys hollered, his eyes wide with fear.
Loosha looked at Daisha. “What’s he talking about?”
Daisha stood up and untied the belt around her wrist. “I think he said there’s going to be a tsunami.”
“Tsunami? As in a giant wave?” Loosha asked.
“That’s what the kid said.”
Loosha pointed to the water. “Holy crap!” he cried. “Look at that!”
Daisha glanced at the shore. The ocean was receding dramatically, like someone had pulled a plug. A loud rumble rattled the palm trees.
“Something’s not right,” she said.
The entire horizon began to swell with water. A giant wave emerged in the distance, gaining height and power as it rolled toward the shore.
“Correr por la tierra alta!” screamed one of the old men who had been pulling his canoe from the water. “Correr!”
“What’s he screaming?” Loosha asked.
“Correr means ‘run’ in Spanish,” Daisha said. “We better take his advice.”
They turned around and raced through the jungle. The old men had fallen behind, but the three kids were well ahead of them. Several panicked people emerged from the trees, running for their lives. Screams echoed along the beach. Daisha looked over her shoulder and saw the wave violently pound the shore. The surge of water clawed its way inland, toppling trees and washing away hummocks and hillsides. Just as the floodwater was about to sweep them away, the GeoPort began to chirp.
Daisha looked down and saw the same four sets of numbers flashing across the screen.
21.52, 75.3, 78.14, 0.9786
“Where are these numbers coming from?” Daisha cried out in frustration. “And how can we Warp? It hasn’t been twenty-four hours.”
Loosha grabbed her arm. “It doesn’t matter. Get us into the Warp or we’re dead!”
Daisha pressed the SW button, and both of them blasted into the abyss.
Chapter Eight
MUNI
Muni stepped out of the bunker, shielding her eyes from the intense sun. The smoky scent of tea leaves roasting in processing huts wafted in the air.
“Look at this news flash on my phone,” Pavana said.
“Not now,” Muni said. “We need to assemble everybody in the Temple.”
“Why?”
“Questions about Gita will start popping up. I need to give them an explanation, plus a little reminder of the Voices and our destiny.”
Pavana nodded and took off down the path. Muni headed in the opposite direction, toward the far end of the property. After a brisk ten-minute walk, she arrived at a large, open-air structure made from bamboo and palm leaves. Several yoga mats lined the floor. A stone altar etched with the Antakaale’s sign sat prominently at the head of the Temple. A large bronze gong stood off to the right.
Muni stood at the altar, reliving the glorious moment when she first heard the Voices more than twenty years ago. She had just accepted the Vetlesen Prize, the geophysics version of the Nobel Prize, for her work on global warming, when the sky parted and the Voices spoke directly to her. The Voices weren’t people, but powerful spheres of psychic energy, swirling globes of sunshine that descended directly into her mind. Their message was so profound and spiritually penetrating she gave up everything to fulfill their message.
We are not of this Earth and neither are you. Destroy Old Earth and save humankind from the evil of itself. Only the hallowed female holds the key to New Earth. Bountiful peace awaits all women who believe.
These were the first words the Voices whispered into her ear. Muni knew without a doubt that hallowed female meant only women would gain entrance to New Earth, and only women could become Antakaale. The Voices’ teachings came fast and furious after that, and she assembled them all in a slim book of ninety-nine pages titled The Way to New Earth.
The one-time Benedykta Wójcik, PhD, esteemed Caltech professor of geophysics, became Muni, a name she selected from Sanskrit that meant “thinker” or “sage.” She quickly abandoned her life’s work and tossed away all of the accompanying awards. Her ex-husband, an American geologist named Russell Hollinger, gained full custody of their daughter and moved away. She had long ago forgotten about him, but her little córka was never far from her thoughts.
The girl was four the last time Muni had seen her. She would be in her mid-twenties by now, perhaps a graduate student in science herself.
“I will see you again one day, my sweet córka,” Muni whispered, choking back emotion. “And you will come to hear the Voices.”
The first of her followers stepped into the Temple, ripping Muni from her thoughts. Soon, all eighty-seven women of the Antakaale filled the Temple. They sat down cross-legged on the yoga mats as they did every day for the morning meditation. Those who were mothers held children in their laps. In accordance with the Voices’ teachings, Muni allowed only mothers and daughters among the group. She had turned away many women with sons who wanted to join.
Utter joy filled Muni’s heart as she gazed at her followers with her penetrating, hypnotic green eyes. They had come from
different parts of the world: France, Ireland, England, Vietnam, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Somalia, Syria, the United States, and one spotty teenager from Iceland.
Some were doctors, lawyers, college professors, secretaries, police officers, and elementary schoolteachers in previous lives. Others were housewives and still others students. Some were retired. Now, they were all Antakaale, working on the tea plantation, passing the time while awaiting passage to New Earth.
Muni picked up the ceremonial mallet and pounded the gong three times. The sound rang out, its powerful vibrations bouncing off the bamboo and echoing in their ears.
“My daughters,” Muni said with a huge smile. “How I love each and every one of you.” She held out her arms as if giving them an embrace. “The Voices have chosen me to show you the way to freedom, peace, and eternal life. There is no other way but that of the Voices.”
“No other way but that of the Voices,” the worshippers repeated in almost zombie-like devotion. Even the children seemed taken by Muni’s message.
“The time of our departure to New Earth is not yet upon us,” Muni explained. “I have assembled you here today as a reminder of our mission and daily devotion. As my advisors and I plot our way, we must not forget verse number ten of the Voices’ teachings. Patience is the greatest gift along the path toward New Earth.”
Her followers chanted, “Patience is the greatest gift.”
“Now, I must ask you a question. Do you see Gita?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“Our lovely Gita is no longer with us,” Muni continued, “because she has been attacked by the Soul Worms.”
Cries of anguish, fear, and pain filled the temple. People sobbed as others tried to comfort them.
“Is she okay?” someone asked.
“I want to help her,” chimed another.
“Gita’s fate is up to the Voices now,” Muni said. “But remember our beloveds’ warning about the Soul Worms in the sacred texts. They want nothing more than to deafen our ears to the Voices.”
“They want to deafen our ears to the Voices,” the crowd answered back.
Muni banged the gong again, this time louder than before. “We are vulnerable to attack when we let doubt creep into our frail human minds,” she preached. “They have even caused our dear Gita to try and scratch the blessed mark from her forehead. Bring me her child!”
A tall Somali woman named Faraw emerged from the crowd carrying the toddler. She handed Varya to Muni. The little girl’s thumb plopped into her mouth as her head rested on Muni’s chest.
“New Earth belongs to this precious daughter and all who believe,” Muni said.
A chorus erupted from the crowd.
“We believe! We believe! We believe!”
Muni joined the chant as she walked into the audience with Varya in her arms. Her followers fell to their knees and wept with joy as she walked out of the Temple and down a dirt path toward her office.
Chapter Nine
AXEL
A hopeless sense of dread filled Axel’s heart. He needed a working GeoPort to find Daisha. For all he knew, she might be alive and waiting for him back at Hoover Park Dog Run.
“I’d give anything for this to work again!” Axel hollered.
“You’re scaring me,” Charu said. “Are you getting cave fever?”
Axel held up the GeoPort for her. “Didn’t Jag or Megan tell you what this is used for?”
Charu shook her head.
“It’s a GeoPort,” Axel explained. “That’s short for Geographical Transportation. My dad and Daisha’s mom invented the process. I can travel anywhere in the world with this thing at the press of a button. That is, I used to be able to.”
A confused look washed over Charu’s face. “This can’t be real,” she said. “It sounds like something out of an episode of Badi Door Se Aaye Hain.”
“What’s Baddee door see ya…or however you pronounce it.”
“Badi Door Se Aaye Hain means ‘come from far away’ in Hindi. It’s a very funny science fiction show about a family of aliens who crash-land their spaceship in the middle of the jungle.”
“This isn’t science fiction. A GeoPort is science fact.”
Axel told Charu about the crazy events that had led up to him being at the temple when it exploded.
“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” Charu said, her eyes misty from the story. “As for this Doctor person, Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.”
“That’s pretty deep,” Axel said. “Did you just make it up?”
“I wish,” Charu said. “It’s a quote from Mahatma Gandhi.”
“I know about Gandhi. We learned a little about him in history class, the British occupation of India and everything. You know, I even voted yes at school to officially change the name of Columbus Day to Gandhi Day.”
Charu gave him a blank look. “Never mind, it’s not important. May I see it?”
Axel handed the GeoPort over. “Sure. Maybe you can get it to work.”
Charu studied the unit, rubbing it with her fingers. “Strange that this Doctor tried to kill you just to get this particular GeoPort. Why doesn’t he just make one for himself?”
“Because making money is the only thing that scumbag’s good for. He needs people a lot smarter than him to make one of these babies. So far, he hasn’t found anyone as intelligent as my dad or Daisha’s mom.”
A female voice echoed off the rock walls outside in the hallway.
“Axel? Charu?”
“It’s Megan!” Axel said.
Charu helped Axel shuffle into the passage. They hurried down a corridor and saw Megan standing in front of Axel’s room.
“Hey!” Megan called out, running toward him.
“Where’s Jag?” Charu asked.
“Looking for Larraj,” Megan answered. “No one can seem to find him.”
“What were you doing out of the caves?” Axel asked. “Did you see any Pursuers?”
Megan shook her head. “None of them, thankfully. Jag and I spent our time wandering around the rock shelter like tourists until we picked up cell service. I’ve been scouring the news for any information about the Doctor, the Sun Temple, and anything else we could discover.”
“Did you find anything out?” asked Axel.
“Well, for starters, the Doctor’s in big trouble.”
“Good,” Axel said with a smile. “I hope they throw the book at the jerk.”
“There also have been three major earthquakes and a devastating tsunami around the globe in the last forty-eight hours. One of the quakes was centered close to our hometown of Palo Alto. The tsunami nearly wiped out the Galápagos Islands.”
Axel’s mouth dropped open. “Was the earthquake bad back home?”
“Bad enough to destroy a lot of buildings, but only three reported deaths so far, thank goodness.”
“Hopefully one of those buildings was Hatch Enterprises, LLC. Do you think what’s happening around the world has anything to do with what happened back at the Sun Temple?”
Megan shrugged. “Don’t know for sure. But it’s a very odd coincidence. There’s no doubt you and Daisha destroyed the permanent X-Point back there.”
Axel took the GeoPort from Charu and handed it to Megan. “Can you figure out a way to get this thing to work?”
Megan clutched the GeoPort and paced the hall. She narrowed her eyes, biting her bottom lip, deep in thought. Axel could almost see the billions of neurons firing inside her brain. He had watched his father perform the same ritual many times when trying to decipher an advanced physics equation.
“Professors Jack and Tandala let me in on almost every aspect of Geographical Transportation, but not everything,” Megan said after several moments. “All this news makes me remember something very strange your dad and Daisha’s mom told me literally the day before they—”
Megan didn’t have to finish her sentence. Axel knew she had cut off the words were k
illed so as not to hurt his feelings.
“What did they tell you?” Axel asked.
“That they were still studying the long-term effects of X-Points and were unsure of what would happen if one were destroyed.”
“What’s an X-Point again?” Charu asked.
“X-Points, also called electron diffusion regions, are places in Earth’s magnetic field that connect to the sun’s magnetic field,” Megan explained. “To make a long story short, it’s the power that makes Axel’s GeoPort transport him to any place in the world within seconds.”
Charu looked at Axel, her eyes wide with excitement. “Now that’s why I want to go to college and study physics.”
Megan smiled at her and then turned back to Axel. “Your dad took me aside and told me if something went wrong I might have to get help.”
“What kind of help?” Axel asked.
“That’s the cryptic part. I don’t know what kind of help he meant. He knew the potential downsides of destroying a permanent X-Point, but they had to make a choice.”
“Either let the Doctor rule the world by getting his grubby hands on the technology,” Axel said, “or destroy the permanent X-Point without being certain what side effects it might have.”
“I know they made the right decision,” Megan said. “But it seems like those ‘side effects’ might be pretty serious if we don’t do something.”
“Then it seems we have to make a new X-Point,” Charu said.
“You’re a smart girl,” Megan told Charu. “I think that’s exactly what we need to do.”
“How in the world are we supposed to create a new X-Point?” Axel wondered.
“I have no idea,” Megan answered. “We need to get Larraj and Jag’s advice.”
Axel tossed his hands up in exasperation. “So those two guys suddenly have advanced degrees in astrophysics?” he said sarcastically.
“No, but they have advanced degrees in the palm leaf prophecies,” Charu offered, reaching up to touch Axel’s shoulder to calm him down. “They know many things from the past and future.”